Iconosquare is Now Charging A Lot for Their Formerly Free Service

Instagram is more than just taking pictures of what’s for lunch; it’s a great way for brands to connect with their fans and followers. The network has introduced different features over the past couple of years, including direct messages, caption editing, and sponsored posts, but one thing it was, and is still, lacking is a native analytics platform.

So in comes Statigram in May 2011, which rebranded itself as Iconosquare in April 2014.

It allowed you to not only post your pictures and view your feed, but do some behind the scenes digging on your account’s performance and engagement. It also created a video montage of your year’s most-liked pictures. Iconosquare was a godsend for bloggers and brands alike, because all that was free.

Until today, when it appears that they’ve reneged and pulled the rug from under everyone.

Many users logged in today to realize they couldn’t access their Instagram data. It was the equivalent to showing up at your house and seeing your clothes got thrown in the street. No courtesy email, no heads up, no nothing. That’s because the company made a swift change to a freemium model, and their price point is, well, out of control.

In the words of Ronnie Tyler of BlackandMarriedWithKids.com, you can’t get rich off free stuff. It’s just not possible, and we understand that. However, with this new pricing model made me take my glasses off, clean them, and put them back on again.

Bruh. This is their monthly price. They want you to pay (starting at) $199 each month for things you used to get for the free!$199. A MONTH. Not a year. a month. What’s left for us broke folks? Oh, a search engine and “advanced web viewer” which is basically a whole lot of nothing.

What gives, Iconosquare? What’s the line between premium pricing and just plain greedy? How can you possibly think that your audience, which includes bloggers, not just Fortune 500 brands and agencies, can afford this? Hell, for a one time payment of $499, I can hire a developer to make another Instagram analytics platform. Maybe. I’m not sure. Don’t quote me.

Honestly, it sucks because they are the Instagram analytics platform. Ain’t nobody effing with their clique, and they know that. But that leaves so many of us that used their platform out in the cold.

“What I wish they would offer is a package in between the free and compact plans with just the analytics. Most bloggers don’t need features such as customizable feeds, conversation trackers or hashtag and competitor tracking. If a package with just the analytics was offered at an affordable price for bloggers, they would pay for it. But instead, they exclude the little guy with their price point.”

Methinks that the company got their ego stroked, because you can now see a seemingly endless scroll of big name companies that use the service, like Ikea, Coca Cola, Gap and ‘dem. They went Big Tymers on us like Birdman and Mannie Fresh, and I don’t appreciate it.

In their first week, then-Statigram had 20,000 free users register for the platform. Obviously, this was a clear indication that they were on to something. They were meeting a need in the market. In their blog announcing their changes, the one they posted after folks got the boot and sticker shock, the team tried to justify that they’re still serving 95% of their users who use their “user-friendly webviewer”.

Of course we use it; it’s the first thing you see when you log in! The company stated, “4% of you are hungry for Instagram stats to check out the growth of your community or to improve the way you engage your followers.” Just 4%? I need to see those receipts.

Folks are upset in their comments section too, and all the team has for us who are angry are a bunch of apologies, too little too late. Who has $199 to spend each month on something that doesn’t put food on my table and doesn’t keep a roof over my head? One of the Iconosquare staff responded to an upset comment, stating that “In order to deliver a high quality product and effective customer support, we had to make this hard choice.” HMPH!

We’ll keep our ears to the Internet streets, as we’re sure someone will take on the task of taking that us forgotten 4 percenters who are now without a platform to check our Instagram stats. They could have changed their model and started charging but did they have to price out so many of their customers?

Edit: As of Saturday, May 2nd, Iconosquare realized the error of their ways. After the flood of emails and social media mentions telling them that analytics was used by much more than the 4% they originally though, the company decided to make Instagram analytics part of their free account features again.

In an email to their users, Iconosquare admitted, “We appreciate how much you liked what we have been offering to you and how much you disliked our recent changes. Our team is already at work to build a better version. Please accept our sincere apologies.”

Briana Ford is the Managing Editor of Awesomely Techie. At her day job, she is a Digital Marketing Strategist, helping small businesses with their web, social, and search marketing strategies. She loves Apple products, is leary of smart houses (thanks to Disney), and is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs.

In all fairness to Iconosquare, there was indeed an email sent out. I received it on April 13th. Here’s the text:

Dear user,

In May 2011 we launched Iconosquare to provide the growing Instagram community with some fun stats about their accounts. Success was right around the corner with more than 20,000 free registered members in only a week.

As keen photographers, we have continuously improved Iconosquare by releasing loads of cool and innovative features over the past 4 years. As a matter of fact we have gradually dealt with the different needs of various users – individuals and professionals (brands/agencies).

As time went on it became more and more challenging to deliver the right service to the right user while improving our platform. That’s why we made the choice not to undermine the core of our corporate values: high quality product and effective customer support.

After several months of hard work, we are now ready to launch the fourth version of Iconosquare. This new version includes a full redesign and loads of new advanced features intended for pro users but also a free plan for individuals who want to keep enjoying Iconosquare. But be aware that statistics will no longer be delivered in this free plan.

We are super excited about this imminent launch and we hope you will enjoy it too.

Gratefully,

Jérôme Boudot
CEO at Iconosquare

______

I noticed there was no date included—no idea *when* the changes would take place or, more importantly, HOW MUCH it was going to cost.

Well, today, I fully understand why they omitted the pricing in that email… they didn’t want to (severely) shock all of us any sooner than necessary. Because their new pricing scheme is outrageous!! Sure, if you’re a big, successful corporation you can probably find these funds, somewhere. But thousands of one-man-bands are completely shut out now. Photographers, bloggers, the little guy, we’re all out. I’ve enjoyed using the platform over the past couple of years, but I can’t afford to pay 600% more for Iconosquare than I pay for my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

I guess there are two business philosophies: sell one item for a million dollars, or sell a million items for ONE dollar. Obviously, we see which one Iconosquare has chosen. Now is the perfect time for a competitor to swoop in and grab up all the “little guys” that are out there.

As they’re saying over on the twittersphere: #RIPIconosquare

RigorIV

I got that too. Also, I got an email a couple of hours ago saying that they have basically done a 180, and everything’s suddenly back to normal (site design and all). So…yay angry commenters?

Kevin Brock

Yes. Very interesting reversal. This could serve as a small business case study. What a wild few days Iconosquare had. There were LOTS of complaints on Twitter, and elsewhere. So much so that they reverted to the prior, free model, same old website… like it never happened. Well at least it proves that, once in a while, a company will listen to their users.

It also gave an opportunity for competitors to get attention. I came across some worthy alternatives during the meltdown. Ink361, Dasheroo, WebstaMe and my favorite Squarelovin.

I’m all for a monetization model… Hey, I get it! Developers have to eat too. But whoa! Those iconosquare prices were ridiculous! Don’t know how they can give it away AND develop it too. Anyway, just glad it’s back like it was.